Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, March 1, 2021.
Roundtable with Rural Leaders on Storm Issues
As the damage from Texas’ winter storm and blackout comes to light, we’re looking at how it hit more rural parts of the state. Real County Judge Bella Rubio, Leon County Judge Byron Ryder, and Manor, Texas Mayor Larry Wallace share what it was like in southwestern, rural eastern, and central stretches of Texas.
The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine got the green light from the Food and Drug Administration Saturday. Texas Public Radio’s Jerry Clayton says a big shipment will be headed to Texas soon.
Tenants Rights after the Storm
Water pouring out of ceilings, icicles hanging from ceiling fans: images of the winter storm’s impact aren’t hard to come by online. But when you’re renting, getting damage repaired can be difficult. What recourse do tenants have? Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants Union, based in Dallas, joins us with an overview.
Millions of years ago, dinosaurs met their end when a massive asteroid collided with earth. Common knowledge, right? Well, up until recently, scientists were *pretty* darn sure. But there were still some missing pieces. But now, it’s cased closed. Researchers have definitively linked the extinction of dinosaurs with an asteroid impact 66 million years ago, thanks in part to Sean Gulick, research professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. We’ll learn how today.
“Unprecedented” is getting a lot of use in describing Texas’ winter storms. The electrical blackouts. The loss of water. The scarcity of food, and so on. What may also be unprecedented is the amount of cactus and other plant life severely damaged during the freeze. But as KUT Austin’s Jimmy Maas reports, there’s still a chance for some of them to spring back to life.
Last week, the University of Texas at Austin announced that it would not require applicants for the fall of 2022 to take an admission exam like the SAT or the ACT. Is it another sign of our pandemic-impacted times? Or a move that may be a sign of things to come. Telling us more is Kate McGee, higher education reporter for the Texas Tribune.
Texas Power Grid Near Collapse
Two weeks ago, millions of Texans were without power, water and food because of the winter storm. But as we learned shortly after the blackouts, it could have been so much worse. Texas came close to a complete collapse of the state power grid. And now we know exactly how close. KUT Austin’s Matt Largey has the story of what happened early in the morning of February 15th.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with reactions from Texas Standard listeners across the state.
